Chapter 24

Dreamless Sleep Potion was perhaps the single most amazing invention in the entire wizarding world, to Harry's thinking. It was amazing what a little sip of it would do. A moment of discomfort (it was, after all, a medicinal potion and tasted as all medicinal potions did) and the rest of the night, nothing but pure, dreamless bliss. That was what he missed most about the future world, Harry decided as he lazily opened his eyes the next morning. He had had Dreamless Sleep potions whenever he needed it then; bottles of that amazing liquid filled an entire trunk (shrunken, of course). It had been much harder to get his hands on some of that miracle elixir in the time period he was currently living in, but the dose Madame Pomfrey gave him last night had been wonderful.

He sat up slightly and glanced around him. Ron to the right, Fee on his left. The curtains hadn't been drawn. How odd. Everyone else in the room was still asleep, it seemed. Had Madame Pomfrey given them a larger dose, or was he just more immune to the potion now? He blinked his eyes slowly, registering that his mind was still in its after sleep stupor, and leaned back, waiting for some clarity to seep into his mind.

"Mr. Smith? Are you awake?"

Harry sighed and closed his eyes. Of course. Madame Pomfrey, omnipresent head of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, sees all, knows all. "Yes, Madame Pomfrey, I'm awake."

He refused to open his eyes as he heard the nurse bustle over. He knew what would come next. Probing, temperature taking, recovery potions, the general checkup. He simply laid back and allowed her to do whatever she wanted to him.

"Well, Mr. Smith, it seems you've healed quite nicely. It really is amazing what a good night's sleep can do for the healing process. Professor Dumbledore's asked me to send you to his office the moment you wake up. Normally I'd never let a patient leave my care so early, but, given the circumstances…" Her voice drifted off and she glanced over her shoulder at a still slumbering Fee. "I think it best that you go talk to him immediately. Your clothes are there at the foot of the bed, and the password to get into his office is peppermint. Alright? I'll just leave you to get yourself together then. Be sure to come back when the headmaster is done with you, I just want to do some final tests, make sure that none of the potions have any adverse effect on you, you know."

Harry nodded and watched her walk away before sighing and rolling off his bed. His clothes weren't the ones he had worn into the hospital wing the night before. He smiled lightly. He didn't care what Hermione said about house elves, if they made sure that he didn't have to wear the dirty, sweaty, battle clothes from the night before, he had no problem with them working in the castle.

Dumbledore would want a full account of what happened the night before. Should he tell him everything? The rescue attempt was fine, but the reason Voldemort wanted Fee, should he say anything about that? Perhaps he should keep quiet about the Horcruxes and let Dumbledore figure it out all on his own, just like he did the first time around. But who was to say that Dumbledore didn't already have an idea about it? In that case, telling him now might be a good idea, so that the location of one of the Horcruxes would be known in the future.

He sighed and rubbed his head. It really was too early in the morning for this kind of time travel thinking. He should just answer whatever questions Dumbledore asks. The man wouldn't ask a question he didn't want the answer to, and given how violently he had responded to the idea of altering time the night before, he probably wouldn't ask anything that Harry would be reluctant to answer. He nodded, having made up his mind, gave the gargoyle the password, and stepped onto the revolving staircase.

"Mr. Potter, ah good. You awoke far earlier than I had anticipated."

Harry hadn't even stepped completely up to the door yet. But that was Dumbledore, always five steps ahead of his students. "I woke up far earlier than I would have liked," he replied, stepping through the doorway.

"Isn't that always the case?" Dumbledore smiled up at him from behind his desk. "But, no matter how often we wish that we could sleep the day away, there are always matters we must attend. Come, have a seat, and let us attend to them." Harry sat down and waited for Dumbledore to continue. "Mr. Potter, what you did last night…foolish, perilous, completely asinine, but I am, nonetheless, curious as to how you accomplished it."

Story time. "Well, we had a bit of help, Professor. We knew about Fee's death, you see. We knew that she was the last of the Ravenclaw line, and that Voldemort wanted to kill her. But we couldn't let her die this time, professor. We knew her, and even if we didn't, none of us can sit by watching when we could have helped. We knew where she was and when she would be killed, so all we needed was a way to get there and a way to get her out."

"Not a way to get back?"

Harry shrugged. "Getting back's the least important thing. Getting there and doing it is what takes the planning. If you've got a plan that works for both of those, you'll have time to figure out how to get back later."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "I see. And you plan to get there and save Fee?"

"To get there we had to steal the Marauder's Map, something I'm sure you know about by now." The slight smile on Dumbledore's lips was answer enough. "Yeah, I thought you did. Well, after we got that (and, technically, we didn't even steal it because Remus gave it to us) all we had to do was get out of the school, down to the Whomping Willow and through to the Shrieking Shack, Apparate to where Fee was being held, make out way through the Death Eaters, and get Fee out of there. Simple."

Dumbledore's face adopted the look of one similar to a man who had just heard a man claim that he was the all powerful Queen of Sheba. "Simple?"

Harry shrugged. "We've had to plan out more complicated things, believe me. But I figure you don't want to hear about those."

Shaking his head slightly, Dumbledore continued with the questioning, a mild light of respect shining in his blue eyes. "And how, pray tell, did you four teenagers manage to get past all of Voldemort's followers twice?"

"We had an Invisibility Cloak. The hardest part, honestly, was trying to get past all the wards. They were ridiculously complicated. If there hadn't been four of us out there, we would have never managed to get past them."

"And once you were past them?"

Harry shrugged again. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. If he shrugged anymore, he'd have to adopt it as his trademark gesture. "Not much. Just a few ground traps and a handful of patrols, though they did catch us once. Most of them were in with Fee."

"So how did you manage to get past that many Death Eaters?"

"Hermione's handy with spellwork, sir. She's quite good at making her own up. She'd been working on one that would slow down time around the caster so that it seemed to stop. It went on a test drive last night. It apparently worked well, too, but you'd have to talk to Hermione if you wanted a full account of what happened during that time. We just went in, got Fee out, then sent her with Ginny to get out of the house." Dumbledore opened his mouth slightly, but Harry anticipated the question and cut him off. "Ron, Hermione, and I stayed behind to fight off the Death Eaters, make sure they had a clear shot out of the house."

Dumbledore was silent for what seemed like eternity. His steepled fingers tapped against each other. One two three four, one two three four, again and again. Harry just sat, staring. Finally, the Headmaster said, "I must admit, Mr. Potter, I have never come across a student who has impressed me as much as you have right now. I must add, however, that I have never had a student and inanely foolish as you. Even Edgar Allworthy, a former student of mine who was determined to be the first to be accepted into a dragon society and was killed on the first day of the trial, does not match up to the stupidity you have displayed. It was reckless, Mr. Potter. Heroic, to be sure, and admittedly impressive, but foolish nonetheless. I must ask you what made you think you could do this."

And there it was. The Question. He got it all the time. 'Mr. Potter, what makes you think you could possibly take on the Dark Lord?' 'Harry, why do you think you can fight all those wizards when nobody else can?' Why, why, why, can't can't can't. He never had an answer. He wouldn't have one this time, either.

"It was never really a question of whether or not I could do it, Professor. I could try. There was somebody who needed my help, and I had no reason to say no. I was fully capable of trying to save her, and as long as there is something I can do, then there is something I will do. It's never, 'Do I feel strong enough to duel today?' It's, 'Is there somebody who I have the full capacity to help?' I could help Fee. I knew where she was, and when she would die. So I didn't think past that. I had the advantage over all your searchers, so I used it."

"That's quite a self sacrificing view, Mr. Potter."

Harry grinned. "Hermione calls it a hero complex. She says it will get me killed one day. It probably will."

Dumbledore was silent again. After a long pause, though, he sighed. "Now, Mr. Potter, you are aware that you have perhaps beaten the Marauders for the most school rules broken in one night?" Harry nodded, Dumbledore continued, "As the Headmaster, I cannot let such infractions go unpunished."

Harry nodded grimly, awaiting his punishment. He had always known Dumbledore to be fair. He punished when the rule book said he had to, but he added the human element that the rule book did not possess- he had sympathy and understanding for situations when the rules said there must be only punishment. Rules that were broken for everybody's benefit were accompanied by punishments that were really only for show. Of course, that was the Dumbledore that Harry knew in the future. This teacher, still relatively knew to the position of Headmaster, might be completely different.

"Am I to understand, Mr. Potter, that you are the mastermind behind this scheme? That you concocted the idea and persuaded the others to join in with you?"

A slight dip of Harry's head was the only affirmative motion he made.

"Very well then. It is my duty, therefore, to take away three hundred points. One hundred points for every life besides your own that you endangered last night."

Harry's jaw dropped. Three hundred seemed awfully steep. He hadn't been given any detentions, so really the punishment was slight, but he doubted that his housemates would see it that way.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "You also demonstrated extreme bravery, passion, and caring for Miss Riley. Fifty points for such displays, as well as another fifty points to you, Mr. and Miss Weasley, and Miss Granger for taking the initiative to bring your friend back. Also, I believe Miss Granger deserves an extra hundred points for creating such a spell while still in school."

Harry did the math in his head, and grinned wryly at the result, "So all of that gets us only fifty points? Really?"

Dumbledore grinned back. "Yes, it does seem rather unfair, doesn't it? Very well. Another one hundred points to Miss Riley for bravely enduring such a capture."

"Fee's a Ravenclaw, Professor."

His grin grew. "Yes. And I do believe that extra hundred points puts them well above Gryffindor in the running for the house cup. It seems only fair."

Harry sighed. "I guess it does. But my roommates are going to be hell for the rest of the year."

"Such close quarters are a burden, I'm sure. Perhaps you should flee to the Owlry instead, stay there for the remainder of you time here." He said it with such a straight face and solemn voice that it was impossible to believe he hadn't had some sort of acting practice in the past. "But perhaps the Hospital Wing is the better place for you now. After all, if I don't return you soon, Poppy will be out for my blood. Oh, and Mr. Potter? I am truly proud of what you four have accomplished."

A/N: Ok, so it was far too short after such a long absence, but like I said- it was really more of a recap for all you lovely reviewers who have been following my story but forgotten what I had written in the past months of inactivity. For anyone who remembered what was happening, or is reading this story straight through for the first time, I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Really, I am. It's all my fault.

Ok, well, read, review, and forgive me!